This past election has been talked about in every which way. People on the left and the right are painting their own versions of what the election outcome means for the future of our country. With Thanksgiving this week, I just wanted to say how grateful I was for this election.

I grew up in a family that was predominantly Jehovah's Witnesses. My parents divorced when I was five, but I continued going to their services with my mom up until I was 12. We kind of just stopped going and continued on with our lives. Since then we've celebrated Christmas, Thanksgiving, and even birthdays. If you know anything about the religion, you would know that this is in direct violation of their core teachings.

Another violation of their core teachings deals with political involvement. As a Jehovah's Witness, you are taught that you shouldn't vote. You are discouraged from becoming politically active. You are dissuaded from even caring about what is going on in the political sphere. They justify this by citing scripture like Romans 13:1-2 which reads, "Let every person be in subjection to the superior authorities, for there is no authority except by God; the existing authorities stand placed in their relative positions by God. Therefore, whoever opposes the authority has taken a stand against the arrangement of God; those who have taken a stand against it will bring judgment against themselves (New World Translation)."

Because of Biblical verses like this, and others (1 Timothy 2:1-2, Mark 12:17, 1 Peter 2:13-17, Titus 3:1, Proverbs 8:15), we were taught to accept our political leaders, and be more worried about fulfilling God's will.

But something about this election was special. Something about the state of this country, the state of the world, and the consequences of electing each candidate to the presidency, told my mom that she needed to vote.

My mom was brought to the United States at the age of five. She became a citizen soon thereafter. She became a full-fledged Jehovah's Witness in her mid teens. She cast her first vote at the age of 50. For 32 years my mother was eligible to vote but never did.

So why vote now?

My mother strongly believed that she had to cast her vote because there was a candidate she could not believe was in contention and he was not going to get the nomination without her voting against him. My mother felt strongly about the initiatives on the ballot. I was even able to convince her to go to a Bernie Sanders rally with me last year.

This election meant a lot, and even though she is unhappy with the results, I'm grateful that she cared enough to snap out of the religious teachings that were constantly fed to her in all the years she was a Jehovah's Witness. I'm grateful to the two candidates for creating a scenario in which my mother felt it was her human duty to cast a vote in spite of her strong religious ties.

I'm grateful for the 2016 Presidential Election because my mom voted for the first time. I'm grateful that this election lit a fire under her that had her more up-to-date with politics. I'm grateful that she put aside deeply ingrained religious teachings to do something she felt was more important that had very visceral and immediate consequences.

I'm grateful my mom voted.